E.15:4.3 - Classify the actual delta
| Class | Actual effect | Ordinary response |
|---|---|---|
| Δ-0 — editorial repair | Spelling, punctuation, formatting, or wording changes while recognition, meaning, actions, conditions, results, checks, and dependent uses remain the same. | Make the direct repair; run the focused wording or structural check that could fail. |
| Δ-1 — didactic re-expression | Order, examples, or explanation changes while the same practitioner situation, action, normative conditions, result, and ontology remain recoverable. | Verify idea preservation and read the whole changed pattern for recognition, plain language, and action continuity. |
| Δ-2 — normative clarification or refinement | A previously intended rule becomes more explicit, bounded, or checkable, and semantic continuity is claimed, but affected instructions, checks, or consumers may need repair. | State the continuity claim, inspect the affected reach, and supply the equivalence or preservation evidence that the claim needs. Use a DRR when the refinement selects a material content decision. |
| Δ-3 — semantic change | Admissible inputs, actions, conditions, results, normative meaning, ontology, public identity, or dependency claims change. | Make the content decision explicit, repair the dependency-closed reach, and recheck every conclusion that relied on the changed premise. |
These are impact classes, not mandatory version-number syntax. If a publication uses SemVer or another version policy, map the already justified compatibility decision into that policy. Do not infer the class from major, minor, or patch.
Refine, rephrase, split, merge, generalize, constrain, rename, add, and retire remain useful edit descriptions. None has a fixed Delta-Class without its actual effect. A split that preserves every use may be Δ-1; a one-word change that reverses an obligation is Δ-3.